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8/3/2019 DC vs Marvel Transportation
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DC vs. Marvel: Transportation
http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/dc-vs-marvel-transportation/
The most important category of objects in the comic book universe of DC and Marvel has to
be the weapons. I look at this topic at: http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/marvel-vs-dc-weapons/
I would argue that the second most important category of objects in the DC and Marvel
comic book universe are objects of transportation. Superheroes fight supervillains and
weapons are needed to do this. Unfortunately for superheroes, supervillains are often a
cowardly lot that will flee with the loot rather than fight. Some warrior supervillains like
Doomsday will stand and fight Superman but many supervillains try to flee Superman. This
means the superhero needs a speedy mode of transport to catch the supervillain and the
supervillain wants a mode of speedy transportation to escape. Plus when a crime occurs, the
superhero needs to show up at the scene of the crime in the first place. Last but not least,
most superheroes patrol anything from a sector of a galaxy, Green Lanterns, to a section ofcity, Daredevil and Hells Kitchen, and need a way of getting around.
In other science fiction universe there is a vehicle category but comic books are more
speculative fiction than science fiction and some of the most iconic and important forms of
transport only vaguely fit even the most general definition of vehicle. This post will look at
vehicles but also discuss other objects that provide transportation. Does DC or Marvel have
the coolest objects of transportation?
DC Transportation
Below is a list of objects of transportation in the DC universe.
1. Adam Stranges Jetpack
2. Alpha Centurions Pax Romana
3. Ambush Bugs Teleport Suit
4. Batboat
5. Batcycle
6. Batmobile
7. Batplane
8. Birds of Prey Aerie One
9. Birds of Prey Aerie Two
10. Black Mantas Sea Saucer11. Black Mantas Walker
12. Blackhawk Planes
13. Blue Beetles Bug
14. Blue Tracer
15. Boom Tube
16. Booster Mobile
17. Brains Submarine
18. Braniacs Skull Ship
19. Braniacs Star Ship
20. Brontadon (Ship)
21. Catwomans Catmobile22. Catwomans Catplane
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23. Challenger SST
24. Clockincopter
25. Cluster Ship
26. Cometeer
27. Craddock Carriage28. Diib
29. Doomsday Ship
30. Eye of Zared
31. Fiddlers Fiddle Car
32. Flashs Cosmic Threadmill
33. Flying Fish
34. Flying Sundial
35. Fokker Dr. I
36. Gentlemans Horse
37. Gibel Ship
38. Golden Knight Flying Horse39. Gorandian Battle Tripod
40. Gorandian Submarine
41. Green Arrows Arrowcar
42. Green Arrows Arrowplane
43. Green Lantern Ring
44. Grumman XF5F
45. Gyrosub
46. Haunted Tank
47. Hawkmans Wings
48. Hourmans Timeship
49. Huntress Motorcycle
50. Javelin-7
51. Jokermobile
52. Jonah Hexs Mechanical Horse
53. JSAs Steel Eagle
54. Justice League Cruiser
55. Justice League Teleporter
56. Kal-Els Rocketship
57. Kanjar Ros Spaceship
58. Lansarian Morphing Disk
59. Legion Cruiser60. Legion Flight Rings
61. Legion of Superheroes Flying Rings
62. Legion of Superheroes Time Bubble
63. Legion of Superheroes Time Cube
64. Lobos Spacehog
65. LX-811 Star Cruiser
66. Mark 494 Star Cruiser
67. Mitsu-Bishi
68. Mobius Chair
69. Multipurpose Intercept/Reconnaissance Vehicle
70. Mustang Three71. Nautilus of Earth ABC
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72. Newsboy Legions Whiz Wagon
73. Omega Men Mothership
74. Orions Astro-Harness
75. Owlship
76. P-40 Warhawk77. Pacos Convertible
78. Panzer-Ship
79. Peacemaker Hog
80. Pilgrim One
81. Quantum Jet
82. Rip Hunters Timesphere
83. Robins Redbird
84. Royal Flush Gangs Flying Cards
85. Sam
86. Samsons Chronomobile
87. Sandals of Hermes88. Scanner One
89. Scarlet Skiers Cosmic Skis
90. Scorpion-Ship
91. Sea Witch
92. Sheba
93. Space Cab
94. Space Shuttle Excalibur
95. Star-Rocket Racer
96. Starhunters Sunrider
97. Steel Eagle
98. Super-Cycle
99. Supermans Phantom Zone Projector It transports you to another dimension!
100. Supermobile
101. Swinging through the rooftops Batman
102. T-Jet
103. T-Sub
104. Teen Titans Helicopter
105. Thangarian Star Cruiser
106. Time Bubble
107. Tricksters Air Shoes
108. User: Bonesaw 19109. Vig-Cycle
110. Vigilantes Motocycle
111. Warehouse X Toys
112. Warhound
113. Warlords Plane
114. Whirly-Bat
115. Whiz Wagon
116. Wildcats Motorcycle
117. Wingcycle
118. Wonder Womans Invisible Plane
Some of the more famous objects of transportation are Adam Stranges Jetpack, the
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Batmobile, Flashs Cosmic Threadmill, the Haunted Tank, Hawkmans Wings, Green
Lanterns Ring, Kal-Els Rocketship, Legion of Superheroes Time Bubble, and Wonder
Woman Invisible Plane. The top two of this list, the crme de la crme, are the Batmobile
and Kal Els Rocketship. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then the Batmobile has
been praised again and again. The Arrowmobile, Catmobile, Jokermobile and to some extentthe Spider-Mobile, as parody, are all derived from the Batmobile. Kal-Els Rocketship refers
to the space ship that delivered Superman to the planet Earth from Krypton. The Batmobile
has been the subject of schematics from the beginning and you can buy toy collections of
Batmobiles from the golden age to the present. Supermans rocket is a very different affair
and the particulars of how the ship looks have varied tremendously from the golden age to the
present. This is a contest between a very visually defined vehicle and an icon. The historic
significance of Supermans rocket ship is more important than the Batmobile. The rocket
ship is an integral part of the Superman mythos and that mythos in turn largely defined comic
books from the beginnings to the present. On iconic grounds I would say Kal Els rocketship
is the most important object of transportation in the DC universe and the coolest.
Marvel Transportation
Below is a list of objects of transportation in the DC universe.
1. Asgardian Star Jammer
2. Avengers Quinjet
3. Big Wheel
4. Dr. Dooms Time Machine
5. Dr. Stranges Cloak of Levitation
6. Fantastic Fours Fantasti-Car
7. Fantastic Fours Pogo Plane
8. Flying Horses Valyky, Black Knight
9. Galactus Ship
10. Ghost Riders Hell Cycle
11. Green Goblins Glider
12. Guardians of the Galaxy Freedoms Lady
13. Hawkeyes Sky-cycle
14. Iron Mans Armor
15. Kangs Time-Ship
16. Moon Knights Helicopter
17. Nextwaves Shockwave Rider
18. Quasars Quantum Bands19. Runaways Leapfrog
20. S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying Car
21. S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier
22. Silver Surfers Board
23. Spider-Mans Spider-Mobile
24. Stiltmans Stilts
25. Swinging through the rooftops Spiderman, Daredevil
26. Thors Hammer Mjolnir
27. X-Mens Blackbird
Some of the most important objects of transportation in the Marvel universe includethe Fantasti-Car, Iron Mans Armor, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Thors hammer and X-
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Mens Blackbird. I have to mention the Spider-Mobile that is largely forgotten but was in
Spider-Man during the seventies and was hilarious. The Spider-Mobile was a parody of
consumerism. Spider-Man agreed to ride the Spider-Mobile for an ad agency. Spider-Man I
just about always broke. The problem was the Spider-Mobile was constantly break having
troubles. Webhead would have been better of sticking to his webbing and swinging throughthe roof tops.
My Marvel favorites are the Fantasti-Car and Iron Mans armor. Both are marvels of comic
book engineering. Schematics of both were provided early on and you could almost believe
these machines could be created. They represent very different ideas of design. Iron Mans
armor is a sleek, streamlined, minimalist machine that is a high tech, red and yellow, hot rod
of the skies. If Iron Mans armor is a hot rod then the Fantasti-Car is a Volkswagen that is not
streamlined but very practical. The Fantasti-Car has a modular design that looks goofy but
allows the individual Fantastic Four members to break away from the main ship and fight
more effectively as a group. Iron Man led to any number of armored imitators and again if
imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Iron Mans armor wins. However, does IronMans armor deserve to win in this sort of contest? Iron Mans armor is more weapon than
transport. I think because of this the Fantasti-Car is the winner in the Marvel universe. The
modular design of the Fantasti-Car might have real life applications.
The Soviet Union often used tank riders instead of trucks for transportation during WW II.
Men hung onto tanks for dear life. This was done due to a lack of trucks on the part of the
Soviet Union. However, later many tactical advantages came out of this experience. The
men could quickly jump from the tank and provide support to the tank and vice-versa in a
way troops in trucks could not.
I wonder if there is the possibility of some sort of helicopter rider system in which special
forces could break away from a helicopter using some sort of individual pod rocket system
attached to the outside of the helicopter allowing for greater speed in exiting than the current
rappelling system used by special forces. You enter the external rocket pod using a door on
the inside of the helicopter to provide maximum protection until the moment of exit. The
rocket pod also allows quicker dispersal of special forces around an area and the pod also
offers some extra protection upon exiting the protection of the helicopter.
Conclusion
The winner of the DC competition is Supermans rocket ship. The winner of the Marvelcompetition is the Fantasti-Car. I love the sixties campiness of the Fantasti-Car but iconic
value beats campiness and Supermans object wins as the coolest object of transportation!
DC wins! In the course of this study something else stood out.
What is very interesting when comparing the objects of transportation of DC with Marvel is
that there is a giant difference in the number of such objects. This difference in numbers took
me by surprise and is serendipitous result of this study. DC has 117 objects of transportation.
Marvel has 27 objects of transportation. I have done my best to be exhaustive in the
compilation of both lists but still may have missed an important object of transportation here
and there but the difference in numbers is so great that one must come to the conclusion
transportation, as reflected in the numbers above, is more important in the DC universe thanthe Marvel universe. I have my own after the fact theory about this.
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I am old enough to have read comic books from the golden age to the present and let me
assure younger readers that comic books have changed tremendously! The Marvel universe
is a relatively new universe compared to DC whose superheroes and story line foundations
were largely created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the sixties. I would argue one basicdifference between Marvel and DC, especially in the sixties, was that Marvel focused a lot
more on fights than the chase. For example, Superman spent way more time flying around
looking for crooks than Thor. Thor quickly found his enemy and most of the issue focused
on the fight. Thor fought characters like the Hulk. The Hulk does not flee from Thor thats
for sure. I actually bought the first issue in which Thor and the Hulk fought solo and even
then I knew this was something different. For one thing Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created all
these fight scene cartoon blurb sounds that had no equivalent in the DC universe. Jack Kirby
used a lot of lines showing shock waves than anyone else. The fight looked more real and the
key to this was actually using exaggerated action that is less real but interestingly looks more
real due to the nature of the medium. I am into martial arts and have at least fifty books in
the area with pictures that show each move of a kata and the pictures look pretty boringcompared to a well done Jack Kirby punch or kick. I came to the conclusion that Marvel had
better fight scenes and certainly longer fight scenes than DC. The difference in the quality
and quantity of fight scenes between Marvel and DC has largely lessened over time.
I mentioned Doomsday and Superman in the introduction and their fight as chronicled in the
Death of Superman storyline was generally one giant multi-issue series of fight scenes. I hate
to admit it but I enjoyed the series! Remind me to grow up one of these days. For the record,
Superman didnt die despite the title of the series and I knew darn well Superman wouldnt
die and was amazed how my friends and family bought the lie hook line and sinker! And also
for the record, Captain America and Batman are not going to stay dead!
The greater emphasis on fight scenes made Marvel more modern from their beginnings.
Movies and TV were becoming more violent in the sixties and it made sense for comic books
to go this route as well. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were more attuned to modern media trends
than their counterparts at DC at the time and this is one reason Marvel became such a success
at the expense of DC. As a side note, I do not consider comic books overly violent at all
compared to other media.
Comic books have become more violent from the sixties to the present but are still much less
violent than other media. I am especially amazed at some of the cutesy violent video games
on Facebook that have tremendous appeal to my nieces and nephews who are in the six to tenyear old age group. I would much rather my nieces and nephews were reading the most
violent DC or Marvel comic book out there than playing those horrible video games. I guess
I am getting old because despite the best efforts of my nieces and nephews to explain the
games, I had no interest.
It is kind of Hello Kitty meets the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You have these very cute
cartoon characters wielding knifes or whatever and doing terrible things to other cute cartoon
characters with blood and guts pouring out. I like my genres purer than that. I like Hello
Kitty and I like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre but I really dont care for Hello Kitty acting
like Leatherface, the bad guy in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The games are very similar
to Ren and Stimpy ofThe Simpsons fame but again are video games rather than a cartoonwithin a cartoon. I do think the interactive nature of a violent video game as opposed to a
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violent cartoon on TV is worrisome. Back to the topic of this post!
Another example of fight versus chase, many fifties Batman issues were reprinted in 80 page
Giants in the sixties that I read when I was young and in many ways I grew up with this
version of Batman. The fifties Batman is all about the chase! The Batman of the fiftiesinvariably ended up in some sort of scenario with giant objects. Batman chased and fought
crooks in an almost surrealistic landscape. Batmite was introduced at this time and used his
reality warping powers not to fight Batman but to make the chase more interesting. There is
no Marvel counterpart to this sort of chase.
I would argue the greater number of objects of transportation in the DC universe is due to DC
having a golden age inheritance in which the chase was more important than the fight.
Marvel does not share this inheritance and presumably would have more weapons than DC.
Counting weapons is much harder than counting objects of transportation. I spent hours
compiling lists of weapons in the DC and Marvel universe for my last post and am still not
happy with the result. Weapons are ubiquitous in comic books. Objects of transportation aremuch smaller in number and easier to count definitively.